Trenton man beaten, shot, run over in parking lot of Ewing apartment complex

EWING — A 22-year-old Trenton man was killed in the driveway of a township apartment complex yesterday afternoon by assailants who threw him out of a car, beat him and then shot him in the head, authorities said.

Jared Littlejohn died in broad daylight feet away from the entrance to the main building of Parkside Manor, a five-building apartment complex on the 1400 block of Parkside Avenue, the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office said.

The building superintendent, Terry Birchenough, said he was told by police and eyewitnesses that the victim was a passenger in a car traveling on Parkside toward Buttonwood Drive that suddenly turned into the complex. The other men in the car dumped Littlejohn out and attacked him before shooting him, he said.

“That kid was fighting for his life,” Birchenough said.

Minutes after the 3 p.m. killing, resident Craig Jones spoke with a shaken woman who said she saw Littlejohn die. As the attackers left, their car ran over Littlejohn’s body, she told him. The woman was so disturbed by the sight she was feeling dizzy and was examined by an EMT, Jones said.

Police were called out to the scene on reports of a shooting, and found Littlejohn’s body on the ground. Littlejohn was on his side, blood from the head wound spilling onto the pavement.

Police were searching for a beige Chevrolet Impala, license plate No. L94CMN, which fled the scene, the prosecutor’s office said last night. No arrests had been made and no suspects were identified.

The countywide alert for the vehicle broadcast over police radio indicated the car belonged to Littlejohn, and was registered to a Brunswick Avenue address in Trenton.
“He is not a resident here, that’s a fact,” Birchenough said, indicating he had never seen the man before.

In June 2010, Littlejohn led Ewing police and prosecutor’s detectives on a foot chase from a house on the 400 block of Brunswick Avenue over rooftops. The shoeless Littlejohn was arrested after he jumped down to the sidewalk and ran around a corner.

At the time, authorities were investigating Littlejohn for allegedly selling heroin and marijuana from the North 25 housing complex in Trenton, as well as outside the Brunswick Avenue home. A search there located loose heroin and 100 bags of marijuana, authorities had said.

The tree-lined, five-building complex in Ewing is normally placid and silent, with very little crime, residents said.

“This is a quiet area, it’s always quiet around here,” said Craig Jones. “Super quiet.”
However, gunshots occasionally echo down Parkside Avenue, and resident Tasha Sutton has spotted drug dealing in the complex.

“You can see the traffic coming in — you know who doesn’t belong,” she said.

“They’ve got that hungry look and they’re waiting, waiting for you to go in,” she said.

At least 10 Ewing patrol cars initially lined up on Parkside Avenue as police began their investigation, and were soon joined by detectives from the prosecutor’s office.

The shooting was Ewing’s first homicide this year, Police Chief Robert Coulton said.

“We’re, along with county and local law enforcement officers, going to investigate it and find the perpetrator, and make an arrest as soon as we can,” Coulton said.

Anyone with information on the crime can call Ewing Police at (609) 882-1313, or the police Tip Line at (609) 882-7530.